The present invention relates generally to hygiene and handwashing in remote areas and areas affected by natural disasters. More particularly, this invention pertains to systems and methods for dispensing water (or another substance) from a bottle.
In many areas of the world, such as remote areas and areas affected by natural disasters, running water is not available. Examples of such areas include oil fields, campsites, and fishing boats, as well as cities and towns affected by floods, earthquakes, storms, and other natural or manmade disasters. In all of these scenarios, potable water is generally unavailable unless brought in. Such potable water is generally supplied in standardized 16-20 ounce bottles. Additionally, most of the approximately 100 million bottles of water used worldwide each day are used because the water locally available is not suitable for drinking or even cooking, cleaning, and other daily functions such as handwashing.
Current solutions for washing hands with bottled water include pouring the water into another, larger container with a spigot or attempting to pour water on each hand while washing, setting the bottle down to switch hands. Filling a larger container with a spigot requires the presence of that container, and a large amount of bottled water to fill it. Pouring water on each of your hands tends to result in excessive consumption of water. Therefore, antibacterial handwipes or antibacterial foams and gels are generally the best available solutions for washing your hands in areas without running potable water. However, handwipes are very ineffective at removing large amounts of dirt from your hands, which results in excessive usage of wipes and large amounts of trash. These same shortcomings apply to antibacterial foams and gels.